A Turn For The Worst
by ZeroNinjaSupreme
Summary: Cyberspace is in danger! Hacker's got himself another evil scheme, and it's gonna take all of the CyberSquad's might to stop him. But what if one member doesn't have that might? What if he's unstable to keep himself together? What happens then? WARNING: Triggers such as depression, cutting, abuse, and bullying.
1. Revealing Sand

He took a deep breathe, then turned to the glaring TV.  
Why now?  
Why did Motherboard have to contact him **now**?  
 _Stop it, Matthew!_  
He told himself, wiping the grimace off his face.  
 _You're being selfish._  
Pulling his left sleeve down, he grinned at the television.  
"Motherboard!" He called, hiding any sign of annoyance.  
"Cyberspace... in danger... Hacker... Clones...!"  
"Hacker clones?! This can't be good."  
The portal opened up, without another word from Motherboard, and Matt jumped in, only after hesitating a few seconds.  
 _15 seconds_  
He counted in the back of his mind.  
 _That's a new record_  
Matt was getting tired of traveling to this digital world. Not because he disliked the place, and especially not because he disliked the people there. There was something else...

Matt tumbled, yelping as he took a bad landing, in Solaria.  
"Ouch!" Jumping up, he grabbed his wrist, and shook it, waving off the pain from his landing.  
"You okay, Matt?" Said a familar voice.  
Matt glanced upwards, and smiled as he spotted Jackie, with Inez peering over her shoulder.  
He smiled... until he realized they were staring at his wrist.  
Which he was still holding.  
He quickly let go of it before they could speak again, and instead, spoke himself.  
"I'm fine. Did either of you hear what Mother board said?"  
Jackie and Inez snapped back into action, Inez being the first to respond.  
"I heard something about Hacker cloning himself!"  
Jackie stiffened and put her hands on her hips, "Are you sure? I thought she was talking about him cloning the Sunsisphere!"  
Another portal opened up, and Digit flopped out, screeching with a start.  
"Dige!" Matt exclaimed, reaching down to help the cy-boird.  
"Thanks, Mattzer, " He opened his chest plate and pulled out a map, "No time to chit chat, though! Hacker's on his way to get the Sunisphere!"  
Matt cringed, "So he IS after the Sunisphere!" He moved his arm behind him, feeling that all too familiar warmth running down his skin.  
Jackie noticed.  
"Matt, are you sure you're okay? You landed pretty hard."  
The other two directed their attention to their ginger friend.  
Inez frowned, "Does your wrist still hurt? I can take a look at it if-"  
"NO!" Matt jumped at his own yell.  
He wasn't the only one.  
The three stared at him, totally forgetting their mission.  
Digit stuttered in shock, " M-Matt? Are you feeling alright?"  
The ginger boy lifted his unhidden arm and held his head.  
"Yeah. I'm fine. Really. I just didn't sleep well last night."  
The three stared at him for another moment, before nodding, and deciding it best to focus on their task. Since, you know... Solaria, and the entirity of Cyberspace were at risk.  
 _Ugh... I can't get a break, can I?_  
Matt silently vented, staring at the map with a blank expression.  
He was expecting to see a layout of Solaria, so it took him by surprise when he saw a map of **all** of cyberspace.  
Digit paused, and then tried to speak , when suddenly a startled screech sounded from just over a sand dune.  
The Cybersquad tensed, then raced towards the noise, without a second thought.  
Matt was the first around the dune.  
The first and the loudest.  
As soon as he reached the sand pile, something grabbed his shirt and yanked him down.  
"AH!"  
"MATT!"  
"Where did he go!?"  
"And who screamed?!"  
Everything was black.  
He couldn't see a thing.  
And now that he thought about it...  
He couldn't breathe.  
He tried to move.  
His body felt heavy.  
His arms and legs wouldn't budge.  
He was starting to panic.  
He felt himself being crushed.  
When out of no where, a hand grabbed his hair and pulled him up.  
He gasped for air, coughing and flailing from panic.  
"Matt! It's okay!"  
"Deep breaths, Matt!"  
Matt realized that his friends had grabbed him. They had pulled him out of the sand.  
His face went paler than snow, and he screamed, with what little breath his lungs had in them.  
"SOMEONE'S BURIED IN THE SAND!"  
The squad froze, before gently tossing Matt aside and desperately digging in the sand, which they now assumed had caved in on someone.  
Matt just lay there, panting to regain his breath.  
Sand clung to him. It itched. It was in his shirt, and his pants, and his shoes.  
He spit. Some had gotten in his mouth.  
 _Today sucks._

By now, Matt had sat up and was watching as his friends pulled a small girl out of the sand.  
She was gasping for air, and panicked. Just like he had been.  
Inez and Digit checked over her for any serious injuries as Jackie stood up and made her way to Matt.  
Matt tensed up.  
 _Go away. You can help that little girl. But get away from ME._  
Jackie knelt down next to Matt.  
In response, Matt shifted away from her.  
"What are you doing?" He questioned.  
Jackie huffed, "Matt. You just got buried in sand! Let me examine you!"  
Matt shifted away further, "I'm fine, Jackie."  
And to prove his point further, he stood up.  
He shouldn't have.  
Because the next thing he saw was more sand.  
Jackie screeched, trying to catch Matt as his knees buckled under him.  
Matt groaned.  
 _Perfect... Just perfect. Can anything else go wrong today?!_  
He soon found himself being sat up by both Digit and Jackie.  
As he was tilted, he saw Inez holding the little girl.  
She seemed rather shaken up, but otherwise, uninjuried.  
Matt huffed, just barely stopping himself from wishing she was injuired instead of him.  
 _Matthew, shut up! What is wrong with you?!_  
His froze then screamed when he realized his shirt was being removed.  
He grabbed onto the green fabric, "LEAVE ME ALONE!"  
Jackie and Digit let go of his arms and back, allowing him to collapse back onto the sand.  
Jackie's concerned face turned into one of anger.  
"Matthew! We're TRYING to help you! Now sit still! You're hurt!"  
"I didn't ask for your help!"  
An older man came running over, having heard the rucus.  
"What's going on?!"  
Inez spoke first.  
"Our friends were buried in the sand! We need help"  
Matt felt rage wash over him.  
He'd never felt so angry at the nearsighted child.  
"I DON'T need help! Just get away from me! Leave me alone!"  
Matt jumped up again, just barely catching himself as his knees buckled under him again.  
He huffed in frustrastion, and tried to stand again.  
But he couldn't get off the ground.  
He started to panic.  
He didn't want their help.  
He just wanted to go home and be alone.  
Suddenly he felt an arm on his shoulder.  
He didn't know why...  
But he felt himself become entranced by the sound of crying.  
He didn't know why...  
But he lifted his hands up and covered his ears.  
He didn't know why...  
But the sound terrified him.  
He didn't know why...

But he did know why.


	2. Mother Knows Best

Matt wiped his eyes, drenching the inner folds of his green sweater in tears.

There was an awful silence now.

The squad was quiet, shocked by what just occured.

Matt sniffled, then swatted the hand off his shoulder, only afterwards noticing it was Jackie's.

Jackie let her hand fall to her side, eyes wide and confused.

Digit cleared his robotic throat, seeming to take the hint that Matt didn't want to be bothered about whatever he was facing.

"Uh... So, Earthlees. About the map I showed you..."

He reached for the map again, only to yelp in realization that it was gone.

"Wuh-oh."

Inez moved her head to face Digit, but her eyes still lingered on the ginger boy.

"What's wrong, Digit?"

"I seem to have lost the map in all the commotion," the cy-boird admitted in a rather guilty tone.

Matt mumbled, now hugging his knees, "It was just a map of Cyber Space. We can draw one out ourselves."

As if trying to cheer him up, Inez smiled and exclaimed, "Great idea! We just need some paper and a pen!"

The little girl from earlier took a few steps forward, offering a broken crayon.

"I always have colors on me in case I need to make things pretty. But..."

Her eyes stated watering.

"I broke it when the sand fell on me."

Jackie took the crayon regardless.

"Thanks a lot! It's just what we need!"

With that, the girl trotted off, not looking back.

The crayon seemed to be her 'thank you' for the rescue.

A few minutes later, after having obtained paper from the older man, the group was now sitting together, staring at a dilemma.

A few dilemmas.

One being that now everyone was aware that Matt was hiding something.

Two being that they were now aware that they couldn't inquire about it.

And three being that the map was lopsided and uneven.

Digit huffed, "We can't use this! We can't see how far apart everything is!"

Inez thought for a moment then spoke up, "I think I see the problem."

Digit looked up at her, "You do?"

Inez nodded, "Yeah. We need a scale to help us measure the distance between each location!"

Jackie slapped her forehead, "A scale! Of course!"

She smiled at her friends discovery, then frowned.

"How are we gonna make a scale when we don't even know the distance between each cyber site?!"

"That's where you're out of luck, Cyber-kiddies!"

3/4 of the squad stood up, brows furrowing in recognition of the voice.

"Hacker!"

Matt, though he didn't stand, still said the guys name in unison with everyone else.

Since saying names all at once is kinda the group's thing.

Hacker laughed, holding his arms out to the side in an attempt to look threatening.

"You'll never stop me! For you see, I'm already 10 steps ahead of you!"

He reached into his coat and pulled out a map.

The same map Digit had lost.

"My map!"

"Give it back, Hacker!"

Matt straightened up, leaning forward as he commanded the green man.

To this, Hacker simply chuckled and continued his speel.

"Thanks to you and your bird-for-brains friend, I've got the Internal map of Cyber space! And with it, I can reform each cyber site in my image. One. At. A. Time!"

He leaned forward to match Matt, showing mockery and intimidation with each inch.

"Buzz! Delete! Hurry up, you dunce buckets!"

Hacker turned on his heel and headed for the sound of his hencemens voice.

"Comin' bohss! Be there right away!"

"Yeah! This thing's heavy!"

The cyborgs eased into view.

But what was that they were carrying?

"They've got the Sunisphere!"

Digit pointed and yelled.

"After them!"

Matt commanded once more, and tried to follow his own order, resulting in a moan of pain and another collapse.

Inez rushed to Matt's side, placing her hands on his shoulders to help him sit up, "You guys go on ahead! I'll stay here with Matt."

Matt removed her hands from his body and huffed, "No, Inez! Go with them! I'll contact Motherboard and ask her to send me a portal to somewhere safer."

Inez hesitated, then nodded before running after her friends.

Matt then sighed, slumping his shouders.

He knew he was useless to them right now, and he wasn't in the mood to argue that fact with himself.

Actually...

He wasn't in the mood to do anything.

He didn't even want to reach for his squakpad.

The ground below him shook as the sand transformed into snow and ice.

He shivered.

And even then he didn't want to move.

Eventually the cold became so unbareable, he snatched his squakpad from his backpack.

But before he could even press a button, Motherboards face appeared on the screen.

Somehow, she already seemed aware of what was going on.

So words weren't necessary when a portal opened up in front of the boy.

Motherboard was always aware to some unnatural extent.

Matt crawled into the portal, figuring it was just unnatural for him because he wasn't native to Cyber space.

Maybe it was normal for Motherboard to have juicey details that no one told her about.

Or maybe someone **was** telling her.


	3. One Call Away

Jackie bent forward, grabbing at her knees, and panting to catch her breath.  
"Man... I was **so** not cut out for this!"  
Inez caught up to her and stopped too, wheezing.  
Digit hovered above them.  
"Come on, you two! Hacker's gettin' away with the Sunisphere!"  
Jackie and Inez forced themselves to push onward, huffing and gasping for breath all the mean while.

Speaking of meanwhile...

Matt lay on a couch at Control Central.  
He sighed heavily as he spun his yoyo around in a mastered "Around-The-World" spin.  
He sighed again and lowered his arm, letting the yoyo drop from his hand.  
Motherboard was now staring at him.  
"Matt. Is there something you wish to get off your chest?"  
Matt shook his head.  
"I'm here if you need to talk. I am your friend."  
Motherboard persisted.  
Matt looked into the back of the couch.  
"Thanks, Mother B.. But I'd rather not talk about it. It'll just make things worse."  
"Make things worse?"  
 _Crap... Why did I say that?_  
"Don't worry about it, Motherboard."  
He sat up now, moving his legs into a sitting position with a little more than **some** effort.  
There was silence.  
Motherboard seemed to be thinking.  
Before Matt could come up with an excuse to leave, she spoke again.  
"I heard you injured more than your knees. How is your wrist?"  
 _Man. She doesn't know when to quit, does she?_  
Matt nodded, holding up his wrist a bit to show it off.  
"I told you before. I'm fine. No offense, Mother B., but I'd like to go home. I'm not going to be of any help to the team, so I might as well just opt out."  
Motherboard looked taken aback.  
"Matthew! That is not something I thought I would ever hear from you!"  
Mattt cringed.  
He'd done it now.  
He'd messed up again.  
Just like always.  
And like always, he was going to get yelled at for it.  
He braced himself.  
He felt a heat engulfing him.  
Was it warm in here?  
No.  
It was fear.  
What's worse is Motherboard seemed to take notice.  
"Matthew?"  
Matt didn't reply.  
His mind was blank.  
He felt as though he wasn't in control.  
He could hear panting.  
Deep...  
Deep...  
Panting.  
Like someone was hyperventilating.  
It took him a moment to realize his chest hurt.  
Motherboard called out to him again.  
But he didn't seem to hear.  
She called louder, then flinched when her friend, one she'd come to see as a child of her own, threw his hands up to his head, gripping so hard, his nails dug into his skin.  
And screamed.  
All he could see was black.  
All he could feel was black.  
All he could hear was...  
Black.

Inez fell to her knees, and Jackie slumped against a tree.  
Digit flopped down on the ground right beside them.  
Jackie wheezed, "We can't keep doing this! I'm pooped! I'm a pianist! Not a marathon runner!"  
Inez groaned, then coughed at the amount of air it took from her.  
"How are we ever going to catch them?! We've been chasing them for at least an hour and a half!"  
Digit looked at his suddenly apparent watch.  
He makes things appear sometimes.  
He must be connected to a void, or something.  
"Make that an hour and 45 minutes."  
His wing fell to his side, and he huffed.  
Inez, managing to build up enough energy, stood and kind of wobbled forward.  
She blinked, "Guys?"  
The two looked at her in confusion.  
She didn't return the stare.  
"Since when do Hacker, Buzz, and Delete wait for us?"  
Digit rolled over, getting to his feet, "What?"  
Jackie mustered up the same energy, clambering over.  
Inez pointed to a relatively distant view of the three villains.  
Jackie raised her hands to her face, only pausing when Digit offered her a set of binoculars.  
I told you he was a void-boird.  
She nodded a thanks to him before looking through.  
The sight startled her.  
"Hey... They're not moving forward."  
Inez tilted her head, "What do you mean? Let me take a look!"  
She looked through the glass as soon as they were handed over.  
There, she could see the same image Jackie had.  
The three villainous cyborgs were running just a little ways ahead.  
But they weren't moving any further down the path.  
It's like they were...  
"Running in place!"  
Digit and Jackie looked at her.  
Digit lifted his arms up in a shrug, "Running in place? But why?"  
Inez combed the area, searching for any clues.  
She spotted one.  
"Hey, Digit. What's the small blue box beside the really tall tree?"  
She handed over the binoculars, and he yelped.  
"Yikes! That's a projector box!"  
Jackie and Inez stood stiff.  
The squad were verbal thinkers.  
Almost everything they thought was said aloud.  
But this time...  
They couldn't even formulate words to describe what they just realized.  
Instead, they watched as Digit looked over the section of the path they stood in.  
He yelped once more, which caused the girls to raise their shoulders in a sense of hopelessness.  
"Another projector box! Hacker's been leading us in a circle this whole time!"

 _"Incoming call! Incoming call!"_  
Motherboard ignored it.  
She yelled out for Matt, and this time, after receiving no response, she decided to dial for Dr. Marbles.  
 _"Incoming call! Incoming call!"_  
Motherboard, now frustrated and panicked, just barely held back a shout.  
"Who could be calling me at this exact moment?!"  
She glared down at the ID number.  
"405-6745."  
She read out loud.  
Her eyes widened, and she glanced at Matt very quickly.  
Her thoughts were torn in two, and she growled before dismissing the call and inputting the Doc's number instead.

They hung the phone up, huffing in irritation.  
"Must be Matthew."  
Their shadow peered over a pay phone.  
"I told her that he wasn't in any shape to help."  
He turned and began to walk away from the phone.  
"Whatever. I'll call her back later."  
They smirked.  
"I'm sure she'd love to hear about Hacker's new plan..."


	4. Hand At Fault

Dr. Marbles placed a pillow beneath the ginger boy's head.  
Matt was silent.  
His eyes were focused on his feet.  
He didn't want to look at anyone.  
Dr. Marbles sat back, kneeling by the couch.  
"We're here for you, Matthew."  
Matt crossed his arms, resting them on his stomach as he lay on his back.  
"I don't want you to be **here**. I don't even want to be here. I just want to go home. **Please** let me go home!"  
His voice trembled as if he were going to cry.  
Motherboard stuttered, "W-well... If that is really what you want..."  
Matt nodded eagerly.  
 _Finally, I'm getting somewhere!_  
Dr. Marbles held up his hand.  
"Stop!"  
 _What? Why?!_  
Matt held back a scowl as Dr. Marbles continued to speak.  
"You will still be injured when you return to the Real World! You must make sure you have a story to tell your parents as to how you **obtained** these injuries."  
Matt flinched.  
And much to his dismay, both his caretakers seemed to notice.  
Dr. Marbles tilted his head.  
"Is something wrong with that, Mathew?"  
Matt hesitated then shook his head.  
"N-... nothing is wrong with that. You're right. I need to-..."  
Matt's lower lip quivered.  
He could feel tears building up in his eyes again.  
Dr. Marbles placed a hand on his shoulder.  
Matt sat up, wiping his eyes.  
He shook his head at nothing in particular, then whispered to himself, "I can't do this..."  
Motherboard raised one of her digital eyebrows, "Do what?"  
Matt moved his hands to grip his biceps.  
"I can't go home... I can't do it."  
"But isn't that what you wanted?"  
Curse Dr. Marbles and his inquisitive nature.  
 _No... It's not._  
Matt gulped.  
He took a deep breath.  
"I... My..."  
He paused, unable to stop himself from looking at his friends.  
They stared at him, more curious and concerned than ever.  
Matt loosened his grip on himself.  
"My mother died last night."  
And if that weren't bad enough...  
"My dad says it's my fault."

Inez took out her Squakpad.  
She glanced at Jackie who was in the midst of one of her freakouts.  
"What if we never catch Hacker?! What if he clones the Sunisphere?! I don't know what he's going to do with clones of it! But it **can't** be good!"  
Inez blinked, then shifted her eyes to Digit, "Hey, Dige."  
The cy-boird adjusted his attention to accomadate both her and Jackie.  
"What is it?"  
"What's an 'Interal Map Of CyberSpace'? Hacker said it when he was goating to us."  
Digit hovered over to her, landing next to her feet.  
"That's my map! Well, technically it's not **my** map. It's Motherboard's!"  
Jackie had tuned in at this point, "Who cares?! It's just a map!"  
Digit jumped, "It's not just **any** map! The Internal Map Of Cyberspace can allow whoever's holding the map to move Cybersites where ever they want in Cyberspace!"  
Inez threw her hand up to her mouth.  
Jackie clenched her fists, "Then if Hacker's got it-..."  
Inez finished her sentence, "Then he can have full control over Cyberspace! This is not good. Not good at all!"

A hand reached up, tugging on a sheet of paper.  
Noises came from the right.  
A shadow disappear with the hand.  
The paper with them...


End file.
